The present invention relates to an absorption refrigerator for use with an air conditioner, a water heater, etc.
This type of absorption refrigerator is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 7-292,756/1985. The structure of this absorption refrigerator is as shown in FIG. 7 wherein reference numeral 1 designates the absorption refrigerator as proposed. This absorption refrigerator 1 comprises a generator 2 which has a regeneration function for heating a diluted absorption solution B which has absorbed a heat exchanger refrigerant A and separates the refrigerant A from the absorption solution B by vaporization, and a function for separating absorption solution from vaporized refrigerant. Further, the absorption refrigerator 1 comprises a condenser 3 for liquefying the separated vaporized refrigerant A through condensation, an evaporator 4 into which the liquefied refrigerant A discharged from the condenser 3 is supplied and which is adapted to vaporize the liquefied refrigerant A by depriving a heat medium C such as the outside air and the like contacting the outer surface thereof of its latent heat of vaporization and an absorber 5 for allowing the vaporized refrigerant A to be absorbed in absorption solution B by causing the vaporized refrigerant A from the evaporator to react against the absorption solution B which has been condensed after the refrigerant A was vaporized and supplied from the generator 2 and for circulating the absorption solution B, which has absorbed the refrigerant A, through the generator 2.
The generator 2 is provided with a cylindrical rectifying tower 6, a regenerator 8 directly connected to the lower part of a rectifying tower 6 and provided with a burner 7 as a heating portion for heating the absorption solution B which has absorbed the refrigerant A (the absorption solution B that has absorbed the refrigerant A is hereinafter called a diluted absorption solution D), a diluted absorption solution spraying nozzle 9 provided substantially at the central portion of the rectifying tower 6 and adapted to spray the diluted absorption solution D into the rectifying tower 6, a filler material 10 such as a non-woven fabric disposed above the regenerator 8, and an auxiliary condenser 11 arranged near the upper end of the filler material 10 within the rectifying tower 6 and adapted to cool and condense the refrigerant A when the refrigerant A, which has been vaporized to become separated from the diluted absorption solution D by being heated by the burner 7, has reached the upper portion of the rectifying tower 6.
The condenser 3 is arranged substantially parallel to the rectifying tower 6 and comprises a storage box 13 held in communication with the downstream side end of the auxiliary condenser 11 through a duct 12, a refrigerant tank 14 arranged below the storage box 13 in spaced apart relationship with the latter, a plurality of communication pipes 15 for establishing communication between the storage box 13 and the refrigerant tank 14, an outer sheath 17 provided to surround the communication pipes 15 and to form a cooling water path 16 between the storage box 13 and the refrigerant tank 14.
The condenser 3 guides the refrigerant A flowing into the storage box 13 via the auxiliary condenser 11 to the refrigerant tank 14 through the communication pipes 15 and, during its passage through the pipes 15, the refrigerant A is condensed and liquefied by cooling water E (to be described later) flowing in the cooling water path 16 between the communication pipes 15.
The evaporator 4 comprises a plurality of heat exchanger pipes 18 disposed along the vertical direction, an upper header 19 for connecting the upper ends of the heat exchanger pipes 18 so as to establish communication therebetween, a lower header 20 for connecting the lower ends of the heat exchanger pipes 18 so as to establish communication therebetween and a number of heat exchanger fins 21 arranged along the longitudinal direction of the heat exchanger pipes 18 in spaced apart relationships with one another and to which the heat exchanger pipes 18 are fixed, keeping communication therebetween. Further, each of the upper ends of the heat exchanger pipes 18 is held in communication with the refrigerant tank 14 through a refrigerant supply pipe 22, the upper header 19 is held in communication with the upper end of the absorber 5 through a communication pipe 23 and the lower header 20 is held in communication with the diluted absorption solution tank 24 provided at the lower end of the absorber 5 through a communication pipe 25. Further, between the downstream side end of the refrigerant supply pipe 22 and the upper end of each of the heat exchanger pipes 18 of the evaporator 4, there is provided a refrigerant dripping means 26 for distributing the liquefied refrigerant A from the refrigerant supply pipe 22 to the heat exchanger pipes 18 so as to allow the refrigerant A to drip along the inner surfaces of the heat exchanger pipes 18.
As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the refrigerant dripping means 26 comprises a refrigerant supply header 27 arranged along the upper end of the heat exchanger pipes 18, a refrigerant supply nozzle 28 provided on the refrigerant supply header 27 in spaced apart relationship with the latter so as to project into the interior of the heat exchanger pipe 18 and a guide member 29 provided within the upper end of the heat exchanger pipe 18 and adapted to drop the liquefied refrigerant A from the refrigerant supply nozzle 28 along the inner wall surface of the heat exchanger pipe 18.
Described in more detail, the upper end of the heat exchanger pipe 18 has, as shown in FIG. 9, a large-diameter portion 18a and the upper header 19 is connected airtight to the large-diameter portion 18a so as to cover an open end of portion 18a. Further, at the position of the upper header 19 that is opposed to a small-diameter portion 18b of the heat exchanger pipe 18, there is formed a through hole 19a which establishes communication between the heat exchanger pipe 18 and the upper header 19 and annular guide member 29 of substantially the same diameter as the through hole 19a is mounted so as to establish communication between the through hole 19a and the small diameter portion 18b of the heat exchanger pipe 18.
The guide member 29 has the upper end thereof connected airtight to the upper header 19 while the lower end thereof is fitted in the small-diameter portion 18b of the heat exchanger pipe 18 so that by the existence of the large-diameter portion 18a of the heat exchanger pipe 18, there is formed a stay portion 18c for the liquefied refrigerant A between the guide member 29 and the upper header 19 and within this stay portion 18c, the top end of the supply nozzle 28 passing through the side wall of the large-diameter portion 18a of the heat exchanger pipe 18 is positioned.
Further, at the lower end of the guide member 29 there are formed a number of guide grooves 30 along the direction of axis of the guide member so as to open toward the lower end surface of the guide member and to extend to a predetermined depth from that lower end surface, and through such guide grooves 30, the above-mentioned stay portion 18c is held in communication with the interior of the heat exchanger pipe 18.
The absorber 5 comprises an absorption solution dripping means 31 to which there is connected the communication pipe 23 which is connected to the upper header 19 of the evaporator, the diluted absorption solution tank 24 arranged below the absorption solution dripping means in spaced apart relationship with the latter and in which the absorption solution B (i.e., the diluted absorption solution D) which has absorbed the refrigerant as a result of its reaction against the vaporized refrigerant A is stored, a plurality of communication pipes 32 for establishing communication between the absorption solution dripping means 31 and the diluted absorption solution tank 24 and an outer sheath 34 provided to surround the communication pipes 32 so as to form a cooling water path 33 between the absorption solution dripping means and the diluted absorption solution tank 24 and adapted to absorb the refrigerant A vaporized in heat exchanger pipes 18 by reducing the internal pressure thereof.
Further, the absorption solution dripping means 31 has its upper portion connected to an absorption solution supply pipe 35 for supplying absorption solution B condensed by the regenerator 8 and is provided therein with a dispersion plate 36 disposed to divide the inner space thereof vertically into two portions. Further, the above-mentioned communication pipe 23 is connected to dripping means 31 at a position below the dispersion plate 36 and through this communication pipe 23 the refrigerant A vaporized by the evaporator 4 is supplied.
The diluted absorption solution tank 24 is held in communication with the diluted absorption solution spray nozzle 9 through a diluted absorption solution return pipe 37 and at the intermediate portion of the return pipe 37 there is provided a diluted absorption solution circulation pump 38 for supplying the diluted absorption solution stored in the diluted absorption solution tank 24 to the diluted absorption solution spray nozzle 9.
Between the upper end of the outer sheath 34 of the absorber 5 and the lower end of the outer sheath 17 of the condenser 3 there is provided a communication pipe 39 to thereby establish communication therebetween, and between the upper end of the outer sheath 17 and the auxiliary condenser 11 there is provided a communication pipe 40 to thereby establish communication therebetween. Further, between the auxiliary condenser 11 and the lower end of the outer sheath 34 there is provided a communication pipe 41 to thereby establish communication therebetween and a closed circuit for the circulation of cooling water is formed by the outer sheath 34, the communication pipe 39, the outer sheath 17, the connecting pipe 40, the auxiliary condenser 11 and the communication pipe 41. At the intermediate portion of the communication pipe 41, there are provided an air conditioner room unit 42 and a cooling water circulation pump 43 for circulating the cooling water E.
In FIG. 7, reference numeral 44 designates a refrigerant circulation pump provided midway in the refrigerant supply pipe 22 so as to supply the liquefied refrigerant A, reference numeral 45 designates a heat exchanger into which the absorption solution supply pipe 35 and the diluted absorption solution return pipe 37 are inserted so as to exchange heat between the two pipes and supplying C to the reference numeral 46 designates an air blower for supplying the outside air as an outside heat medium C to the evaporator 4.
In the case of the absorption refrigerator 1 of the above-described structure, the liquefied refrigerant A supplied from the refrigerant tank 14 by means of the refrigerant circulation pump 44 is supplied to the refrigerant dripping means 26 provided above the evaporator 4.
In the refrigerant dripping means 26, the liquefied refrigerant A is distributed to the stay portion 18c through the refrigerant supply header 27 and each of the refrigerant supply nozzles 28. Then, the liquefied refrigerant A supplied to the stay portion 18c is dripped to flow down along the inner wall surface of each heat exchanger pipe 18 and by the contact of the outside air as the heat medium C with the surfaces of the heat exchanger fins 21 and the heat exchanger pipe 18, a heat exchange operation is performed between the open air C and the liquefied refrigerant A flowing downward along the inner wall surfaces of the heat exchanger pipes 18, so that the liquefied refrigerant A vaporizes by depriving the outside air C of its latent heat of vaporization, moves upward within the heat exchanger pipes 18 and after being collected by the upper header 19 at the upper end of the heat exchanger pipes 18, it is supplied to the absorber 5.
The vaporized refrigerant A supplied to the absorber 5 is, brought into contact with the absorption solution B from the regenerator 8 so that it is absorbed into the absorption. solution B to become the diluted absorption solution D. Further, the diluted absorption solution D is supplied to the diluted absorption solution spray nozzle 9 through the diluted. absorption circulation pump 38 so as to be sprayed into the rectifying tower 6, heated by the burner 7 under the rectifying tower 6 and with the vaporization of the refrigerant A, the diluted absorption solution D is separated into the absorption solution B and the refrigerant A.
Thus, the refrigerant A exchanges heat with the cooling water E during its passage through the auxiliary condenser 11 and the condenser 3 and further, during its passage through the absorber 5, the heat it has absorbed from the outside air is given to the cooling water E.
Accordingly, the cooling water E is gradually heated while it is circulated through the absorber 5, the condenser 3 and the auxiliary condenser 11 and then supplied to the ,air conditioner room unit 42 for heating.
In the case of the absorption refrigerator 1, it is possible to increase the amount of heat radiation from the room unit 42 by more than 1.3 times the amount of heat generated from the burner 7 by help heating the cooling water E through the absorption of the heat energy of the outside air C.